The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-05-26

| NEAR ERFURTH.
scripiio" of the Cathedral and tn.
church of 1T. Severus.
NUMBER THREE
Especial Cor. STATE CnHoNIcLE.l
The sky was perfectly clear and blue
and the sunshine tasted Of Spring as We
bade farewell TO the good natured landlord
OF the 'Russischer lIof,' in Weimar, and
headed III hot haste for the depot
For breakfast We had ordered dish OF
ham and eggs, and had then surrendered
ourselves TO the perusal of an illustrated
almanac of the year 1852, which lay on
he table. These older nations Of Europe
nave way of enjoying what is ''out Of
date that We Americans cannot under
stand The pictures, however, had proved
interesting and the minutes had passed
rapidly until, at last, the waiter appeared
with dish of soft-boiIed eggs and raw
ham. Ours was the first order he had ever
had for ham and eggs. But in this beau
tlful Spring weather one could not help
being charitable, so we forgave him and
told him not to do it again.
AT nine o'clock We had taken our seats
in second class compartment and were
rolling rapidly through the suburbs of
Welmar in a westerly direction The sur
face of the country through which we were
now passing reminded me constantly of
the hllly sections of central North Carroll
ma. One undulation followed another like
the huge waves one sees At sea on the day
after stiff gale. The soil seemed every
where sandy in character, but well cult
waited. In little more than half an hour
we arrived at Erfurth, very ancient town
on the Gera, with sixty thousand inhabi-
tants and garrison Of thirty five hun
dred soldiers. AS early as the time of ST.
Bonlface, the Irish apostle of this district,
Erfurth was strongly fortified town
Here in 11s1 A. D., Henry the Lion, Duke
of Saxony, made his submission to the
Emperor Frederick l.
In the 14th and 18th centuries, Erfurth
was an independent member of the Han
seattle League; and later it became part
of the Electorate of Mainz, at which period
the governors palace was built, in which,
in 1908, Napoleon the Great convened a
congress OF the ruling princes of Germany
In 1902 1t was annexed to Prussia; and
from 1906 to 1915 it was under the French
supremacy, though il was, afterwards,
finally restored to Prussia.
Such, in short, i. the history of the town
as have gathered it from my guide book
my faithful ''Baedeker"
In some respects we found the town
much like the other cities OF Thuringia.
The same succeed buildings rising per
pendicularly from the side walks, the
same cobbled streets, the same quantity
frescoed houses of the sixteenth and sew
enteenth centuries. the same springless
droschkes with their stupid drivers
yet something in the very air Of Erfurth
told me- that it was not an ordinary town.
Having only a limited time to spend here
we hurriedly drove to the principal square,
the Friedrich Wilhelnis- Patz, in the cen
tire OF which rises an obeliSk to the memory
Of one of the old electors of Mainz On
the west side of the Platz is the old Lille
Gasthaus' i'll which Luther, Maurice of
Saxony and King Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden are all said to have lodged at diff
ferent times
The Augustine Monastery, now an Or
phan Asylum, contains the cell of Luther
who here became a Monk in 1905; but as
all the "reminiscences Of the great reforme
are said to have been destroyed by fire in
1872, we did not waste our time by visit
ing the place. Instead, We hurried on to
the Cat hedral which crowns the top of a
low hill. How can describe this bcauti-
ful group of buildings? am entirely un-
equal to the task, but l will attempt to
convey faint idea of it as it appeared to
me
Side by side stand the Cathedral and the
Church OF st. Severus, both of them Ro-
man Catholc. The latter built in the
14th century-is OF a simple, massive style
OF architecture of the pnre German school.
Its broad front is capped by three sharp
spires, the central one hi1 her than the
others The Cathedral. on the contrary,
Is an elaborate specimen of the pure Goth
ic architecture of the 18th century The
crest of the hill not being large enough
for the editice of which the builders had
conceived, gigantic substructure Of stone
walls was erected in the form of high,
arched alcoves which open upon the street.
Upon this massive foundation rests the
chancel end of the Cathedral.
Between he two churches, occupying the
entire intervening space. is broad flight
of stairs consisting of eighty steps of solid
stone. Up these the Doctor and hurried
expressing our enthusiastic admiration
with every breath. First We turned our
attention to the tower and wound our way
carefully up to the bell loft where we ex-
amined the chime of ten bells of huge size,
the largest, "Maria Glorosa," weighs-we
were told-upwards of thirteen tons
Thi k of it!-twenty six thousand pounds!
Descending, We entered the church where
religious service was going on. On the
benches, whicn occupy small part of the
interior, hundred or more gaily dressed
peasants from the country, sat listening to
the priest as he chanted the ritual OF the
Roman Catholic church. The stone floor of
the ancient building is studded, here and
there, with quaint, model carved memorial
slabs of great men OF the elden times. Many
faded paintings of the 18th and 10th cen
turies adOrn the walls, and In the choir is
a curious bronze candelabrum said to be
of the 11th century. The windows are of
rich stained glass of the 14th century
The west facade of the building makes
a beautiful picture. In front of the por-
tai is Il Semicircular court, built out
from the side of the HILL like that in front
of the building and around either side of
this court a stairway descends to the street.
Directly above the portal is a colossal
Madonna, in Mosaic, upon a background
Of blue and gold.
1t was with great reluctance that we
left the beautiful Cathedral of Erfurth- in
its way the grandest that have yet seen-
and returned to the depot.
Ten minutes later we had secured our
tickets for Gotha and were passing through
country little different from that which
| have already described.
Wonderful Cures.
w. D. Hoyt & Co., Wholesale and Ret all
Druggists Of Rome, Ga, say: We have